Resource Availability for Women at Risk: Its Relationship to Rates of Female-Perpetrated Partner Homicide

• NCJ Number: 114195
• Author(s): A Browne; K R Williams
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): 85-IJ-CX-0030
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of New Hampshire, Family Research Laboratory
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 11 - November 14, 1987, Montreal, Canada.

Annotation

This study tests the hypothesis that State-to-State variation in female-perpetrated homicide compared to male-perpetrated homicide is related to the extent to which a State provides protective legislation and services for battered women.

Abstract

The homicide data analyzed were obtained from the Supplementary Homicide Report for 1980-84. The study considered only murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. The sample was also restricted to one-on-one cases. Two indexes, one legal and one extra-legal, were created as measures of resources available to women at risk from male partners: a Domestic Violence Legislation Index (measure of protective legislation available for battered women) and Resources for Abused Women Index (measure of shelters and wife-abuse services available). Over the study period, men were overwhelmingly the perpetrators of homicide in the United States. When women committed homicide, the victim was most likely to be a male partner. Rates of female-perpetrated partner homicide were significantly lower in States having higher scores on both indexes for Domestic Violence Legislation and Resources for Abuse Women. Although the two indexes were conceptually related, they were not significantly correlated, indicating they had independent negative effects on the perpetration of partner homicide by women. 4 tables, 3 notes, 39-item bibliography.